We feed wild caught alaskan salmon as well and have also fed habilut and cod to them in the past.

Pilot seems to like everything plain now. I have a feeling the prolonged bland diet of chicken and mash potatoes made him very picky, because he'll eat plain chicken immediately. He also was eating vegetable puree separately instead of mixed in with the chicken.

I tried giving him some salmon from his normal food batch which Pax is eating no problem, but he wasn't having it.


I really hope he is not sick, I've been spending more than double my mortgage the last few months at the vet! His latest bloodwork from the weekend was normal according to our vet and the emergency vet.

I tried to give Pilot half of his "normal food" today for dinner, he sniffed it and walked away.

He ended up vomiting white foam a few minutes later. I assume this is because his stomach was empty. It scared me to death because that was a sign when he had pancreatitis.

He did eat a full meal about 5 minutes later after I switched out the food to plain chicken, mash potatoes, and a side of separate veggie puree.

He was also acting normal after I brushed his teeth, so I don't think the vomiting was serious. He's had a history of bilious vomiting when his stomach gets empty.

As far as their names, my ex girlfriend picked them out before she left us six years ago. Pax is short for Paxon, but I love the passenger idea!

Pilot
 

So sorry that Pilot threw up foam and would not eat his dinner last night. Just when things were settling down. It does seem that his GI system can only take the bland food now. I would keep him on what he likes and not change things at this point. Also feed smaller and more frequent meals.
If he is also picky at dinner as well as in the morning, that is new?
I am still concerned that he is nauseous for some reason and has to be tempted to eat. Perhaps some Pepcid would help with the acidy stomach? With my dog, P went along with an acidy stomach.
If you fear P, could you get at least the snap PCL test at the vet to ease your mind? I know that the cost is an issue at this point, but hopefully it won’t be that expensive. I hope he does not still have low level P that is making him feel sick.
This setback must be really stressing you out, but hope it was just an isolated event.
Thanks for the answer to the names, but having seen the. Pilot and Pax on the Flight Aware web site, I thought that was the reason.
Perhaps if you are home at weekends you could see how he behaves with feeding etc. Does your mom have a different regimen?
Anyway, this roller coaster you are riding must be destroying you and I pray Pilot will get well soon.

Hi dottiesyrky, I don’t think it’s P now.

Pilot ate last night after vomiting on his empty stomach. He also ate this morning right away, and did not vomit up his food from last night.

Pax has also been picky in the mornings.

I left everything separate this morning instead of mixing together the veggies, etc. like how we would eat ourselves.

They both went for the chicken firstand eventually ate the rest of the veggies and potatoes. We also gave him some non fat plain greek yogurt with extra probiotics and vitamin b.

When everything was mixed together the boys would just sniff it and walk away.

Pilot also ate right away last night when I left everything separate.

He is not showing any signs of pain in his abdomen and had normal bowel movement this morning.

When he had P he wouldn’t even want to touch plain chicken. He was also vomiting every few hours and having severe diarrhea.

Regarding my mother, she is totally different than me, and is old fashioned. She wants to do everything her way even though I give her guidance. She’s also on the go go in the mornings so perhaps there’s some stress there.

Thank you for taking the time out your day to respond.

They have become your mini-mes!

My little one did love, love her chicken.

You are still my home-cookin' hero.

Pilot the picky
 

Hi.
Glad to know it is not P and that you have figured out the secret of how to make him eat! You could write a thesis on how to cure picky dogs with all the research you have put into it. These dogs sure have weird eating requirements.
Perhaps giving him a little something to eat before bed might keep his tummy full all night so he is ok in the mornings.
I think there could be something in the fact that your mom may have different ways of feeding the dogs, knowing how sensitive they are to the details! Sorry your mom is not too open to following exact directions. I am amazed that dogs are so sensitive to our feelings, moods, and body language.
I am very happy to respond as I know how stressful a picky dog can be.
This morning my dog would not eat early in the morning. I just went to the fridge and took out the salmon oil and pretended to add some oil, and then he ate!!! All the details have to be right for them to eat, especially in the mornings!
The rest of the day, he chows down eagerly with or without the oil procedure!
So hoping the new feeding regimen continues to work and that your mom tows the line.

So far keeping the meat and veggies separate seems to be working.

However we appear to be running into a new issue with Pax, something that has actually been ongoing previously.

Pax has been getting blander food in the mornings and I've been trying to transition to his old "normal" food in the evenings. Pilot will no longer eat this normal food and only eats the blander food for his all his meals.

Yesterday about 4-5 hours after Pax ate his normal food, he spit up some up food after laying down for a while, almost like acid reflux. It wasn't a large amount. I fed him his normal food again last night, and I found a little more spit up this morning on his bed.

This morning Pax ate his bland food like usual, and it appears he did not spit up or at least I could not find any.

Pax also seemed to be doing good for several weeks while eating the blander food before.

I'm wondering if his normal diet is too rich compared to the blander food?

The normal food has chicken, salmon, veggies(kale, peas, carrots, lima beans, zucchini) and rice all mixed together.

The blander food is just chicken, some mashed potatoes, and veggies (peas, carrots, zucchini).

I have asked our vet about this in the past and she thought perhaps he needed Reglan trial for a motility issue. This was when Pax was going through his diarrhea and vomiting issues. Pax stopped doing it after a while so I thought it may have been related to that, perhaps because he was eating a bland diet.

I fed him only the blander food today, so we'll see how he does. It has me on edge right now though.

Hi there,

I have never had a dog with a motility disorder, but did just read article on PetMD, "Stomach Disorder (Loss of Motility) in Dogs," n.d.

The difference between your standard and bland is chicken only with mashed vs rice, and lower mix of veggies (no kale or lima beans).

I am not a nutritionalist, but both diets "look" healthy to me. I don't think of kale or lima beans as being "rich."

So hope you can get to the bottom of this. Hope those more in the know will comment.

Now Pax!!
 

My oh my, you poor thing!
I have no idea why Pax is behaving in this way after eating,
Perhaps he prefers the home cooked food and who can blame him!
As both dogs had similar GI issues if I remember correctly, perhaps Pax has the same residual GI sensitivities as Pilot?
As you say, you need to see if going back to the blander food suits him and he keeps it down.
I don’t know about the motility issue and wonder why that should appear now. But if the vet thinks that is the problem, I guess you go with the vet solution.
I keep onto this, but I still feel that perhaps either mild nausea or an acidy stomach could be to blame. In that case giving Pepcid for a while may help....but that is for the vet to decide. I thought in humans, Reglan is given to ulcer patients? More frequent and smaller meals might also help??
I don’t know how you are surviving this roller coaster ride with your dogs and the vets. You do need a break.
So I pray Pax is ok with the blander food and if so I would keep with it. If not you have another dog food research project on your hands I am sorry to say.
I wish I could help you more in your quest for GI quiet dogs, but all I can do is to wish you all well soon.

Why are you giving this pup all these different foods? If you are worried about pancreatitis, my suggestion is to put him on a good low fat RX food......UNLESS this is a vet nutritionist formulated diet with supplements.

Here are some links about home cooking for dogs. There is no way people should just wing it....especially with a dog with health concerns.

www.petdiets.com This website has a very thorough library and if you don't see an answer to a question you have, you can email it to the vet nutritionist and she will answer.

www.balanceit.com This website has the supplements I have used in the past when I home cooked for a couple of my pups...it also has a diet formulator....BUT if it is a dog with medical issues you have to give the info of your vet and they will contact him/her for verification...then you can pick your diet once they have your vet's approval.

Reglan can be given long term. I have one of my pups on it .. he takes Reglan in the AM and Pepcid in the PM.

Why does your vet think there is a motility issue? Has testing been done or just a guess? If he is having that many issues, perhaps it is time to have an internal med consult done? Always better to know exactly what you are dealing with...in the long run it saves money and also saves the pup the many vet trips if you can get things under control quickly.

Hi ladyjane, thank you for your feedback and advice. We may have differences in opinion but we're not really "winging" it.

We've been home cooking for Pilot and Pax since 2013. We get bloodwork done yearly at least and it's been normal except for when they are sick which hasn't been often until the recent GI debacle (see the other thread).

We're following a regimen that has helped many dogs with calcium oxolate stones, which the prescription food cannot do 100%. In fact, the prescription food is high in fat as it contains pork by products and has the potential to cause pancreatitis.

The regimen has worked for hundreds of dogs (including Pilot and Pax).

There is a support group which helped us in the beginning and there are guidelines for balancing the diet, including the calcium/phosphorus ratio (most important piece of home cooking), vitamins, and other supplements.

Pilot's pancreatitis event earlier this year was not due to his diet, but a corticosteriod shot given by the vet to calm his collapsing trachea after his dentals. I was just worried because he recently went through it 3 months ago, a little PTSD.

The vet was just guessing at Reglan for Pax and wanted to do a 2 week trial.

We actually just saw an internal medicine vet for the Pax's GI episodes last month. She wanted to put him on steroids because they weren't sure what was causing the diarrhea, but it looks like we didn't need to go down that route. A few days after the third dose of Drontal Plus and a month on Metronidazole, his diarrhea went away.

The spitting up issue mentioned in the last few posts appears to be diet related though and not motility as Pax seems to be OK when given a little blander diet (no spitting up the last few meals).

P and P’s dad and LJ
 

P&P.
Good to hear Pax is doing well on the blander diet.
It is impressive that you have been home cooking for so long and taking into account the dietary needs. Hoping now you are on a bit of level ground with no GI bumps for a bit.
LJ.
You say that one of your dogs is on Reglan and that it can be given long term. Do you feel Pepcid cannot? What is the Raglan being given for? Does it do a similar job to Pepcid? I am interested as I occasionally give my dog Pepcid, and wonder if Reglan is better? My vet has never suggested it so far.

Please keep us updated on your health journey with Pilot and Pax. An interesting case history to follow. Hope all goes well from now on.

I have used Pepcid long term without any issues. Teddy Bear was my liver shunt dog. After his surgery to correct the shunt, he had some issues with his tummy and since LS dogs often have IBD, we treated "as if". He has been on Hill's Ultra ZD since and is doing well. He also had one pretty scary week with pancreatitis last year. He has problems with his appetite off and on so this is what works for him to keep him eating (reglan AM and pepcid PM). Prior to the meds I was having real issues getting him to eat...he acted nauseous quite often.
Knock wood he is fine now.

I agree about the RX foods when dealing with multiple issues....and yes, with the addition of a history of oxylates, you do probably need to home cook. Personally, I would double check with a vet nutritionist, but that's just me. I prefer listening to the experts about these things. I have been on quite a few support forums and just didn't care for that kind of thing. I have home cooked successfully for a few of my pups with medical issues that RX food just wasn't going to do the trick for. Not against home cooking at all..I just prefer the advice of people who are board certified in the field of animal nutrition.
I hope it all continues to work for you and your pups.

Thank you LJ for your experiences with Pepcid and Reglan. Glad that you have found Pepcid to be ok long term too. Good to know of another med like Reglan for some GI issues. Certainly it can be hard producing diets for multiple health problems.
Hoping Teddy keeps well.

As you know, what works for one does not always work for another. That is the glory of sharing but even with that a vet should always be consulted. It took trial and error to find out what works best for Teddy.

Lj
 

Hi.
Yes I agree, not all dogs, or humans for that matter, react the same way to treatments. Finding the right regimen sure is a research project to get it right for each of our dogs. We have to listen to vets, but often they do not know what is best for each dog or situation. With the vet approval we often have to modify treatment to get optimum results. Also, again like humans, dogs tend to change with time and what works today may not work tomorrow...very confusing sometimes!

We know our pets better than they do, but they know veterinary medicine better than we do. That is what I meant.....if I feel that something might work better for one of my pups, I still run it by my vet if it is medication. The key to a good doctor or a good vet is finding one who listens.

I know the other thread is now locked, but just wanted to update this thread in case people wanted any updates.

Pax had diarrhea this morning, first time in over a month.

The only real changes yesterday were:

1) Gave him a little bit of Krill oil for Omega-3, with his lunch

2) Washed his feet in some Douxo Shampoo (Chlorhexidine) to see if it would help with his paw licking some. While we were taking the bath I believe he did lick some, so it's possible he got it into his mouth.

3) Added a little bit of lima beans to his vegetable mix (peas, carrots, zucchini)

I'm currently fasting him and gave him some DiaGel which the vet gave us previously. Really hoping it's a one time deal or we may have to go down the prednisone (steroid) route.

Sigh. :(

Oh my. I too hope this is just a fake pass.

So sorry. Hope the diarrhea was not bad or that it went on for a long time. In a very sensitive dog, the small additives could well upset him. So please do not give up and just try again to feed and keep him on the bland diet. Don’t think the paw wash did anything, but the oil or beans could have. I have IBS and don’t need much of the food trigger to bring it on. Good luck!

Thank you KatysMom and dottiesyrky! This set back has really reset my emotions.

I fasted Pax for 12 hours today, then fed him half of a normal amount of just chicken and boiled mashed potatoes, no veggies.

Shortly after he went bathroom, about 7 hours after his diarrhea this afternoon. It wasn't liquid diarrhea but not normal either.

We'll see if the full blown diarrhea returns in a few hours since we fed him.

speechless

I am too! I've uploaded a picture of him currently sleeping in case you're interested :)

https://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/pi...ctureid=140060

I really don't want to go down the steroid route unless we have absolutely have too, lots of potential side effects.

Pax is so cute and a real Yorkie.
I know how distressed you are and how you want to make him better, but it really would be good to just feed him the bland mixture as is and let his GI system settle down. If the diarrhea is getting better, hoping the next stool will be normal.
What is clear though is that Pax still has a very delicate GI system and cannot take changes to diet without being affected. It is tempting to try and see how far you can go, but not yet!!! Again that is a very sweet looking dog. Hope he feels better soon.

All medications have side effects. As for steroids, I have used them many times when needed .. there are ways to dose them to minimize the risk of side effects.

Sometimes it is better to treat early with meds suggested by your vet rather than to let it go on to a point where it is more difficult to treat. I have seen folks do that...and sometimes the results are not so good.

As I suggested in another post, all the changing of foods isn't something I would do with a pup with a sensitive GI tract. It is why I always do consults with vet nutritionists for my sick pups that are not going to be well managed by one specific RX food.

He is very cute! :)

I got the impression that the other dog, Pilot, appeared to get Pancreatitis from steroids, and that might be why the OP fears the same might happen to Pax?
But I agree that food should not be changed until the dog is proclaimed well and the GI system cured by the vet.

I had a pup lose hearing due to ear meds but I still treat others with necessary ear meds. Side effects happen..

Thank you for sharing He has sure captured my heart. What a sweetie.

Pax, Chronic Diarrhea returned
 

After a month of being diarrhea free and 2 weeks after stopping antibiotics. Pax's diarrhea issue returned on Saturday (see the closed parasite thread.)

He's having very soft stools after fasting him for 12 hours yesterday and it's not non stop diarrhea at the moment.

We are currently feeding him just chicken and potatoes to see if it would help.

The vet gave us Tylan powder last time since he was on metronidazole for so long, but we have not started this. I guess I'll call them tomorrow to see what they want to do next, but I assume it maybe the prednisone route. I still feel as there maybe some underlying infection possibly.

Here is a picture of Pax with his toy:

https://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/pi...ctureid=140061

My apologies for the multiple posts, the boys haven't really gotten sick with diarrhea until the last 2-3 months.